27 June 2018

Sometimes it is fun to look back on our personal histories
with Walt Disney World and sometimes you stumble onto that history, such as
when I found a handful of pictures from the Disney-MGM Studios in 2003 this
past week. I was clearly in my angsty black and white phase, which even though
I shoot in color now doesn’t mean the draw isn’t there. While many of the
photos showed things that haven’t changed, there were some that highlighted
corners of the park that are no longer there.

Full disclosure, there were some other photos in this set,
but they have been withheld to protect the identities of those in them and to
also shield my embarrassment for what I thought was a great look in my late
teens/early twenties.

We’ll start with Star Tours and a close-up of R2-D2 in the
queue. While Artoo is still present in the queue and attraction today, during
the first two decades of this attraction the starspeeders were a little more
worn. The Starspeeder 3000 was the alter version of the current attraction’s
Starspeeder 1000. I know, timelines, right? And it has clearly been through the
ringer with the damage from blaster fire right next to Artoo.

For the remainder of our brief jaunt back 15 years, we’ll be
boarding a tram for The Disney-MGM Studios Backlot Tour. We’ll pick it up just
as the floodwaters have crested into Catastrophe Canyon and have begun to overtake
the flaming tanker truck and oil rig. Next, we’re moving on to the boneyard where
we have a great view of a snowspeeeder from Empire Strikes Back, one of Jabba
the Hutt’s desert skiffs from Return of the Jedi, and a Trimaxion Drone Ship
from Flight of the Navigator. Also, to the far left of this photo, you can
catch just a glimpse of the ninth wonder of the world the backside of the Dip
Mobile from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

As our short, but bittersweet tour comes to a close, and while we’re still passing
through the boneyard, we take time to glance back and catch a moment with the
original park icon, yet always a beauty, the Earffel Tower.

26 June 2018

If you’re like me, black-eyed peas are something that you
look forward to each and every New Year’s Day, preferably prepared alongside
collard greens with ham hock and cornbread. Black-eyed peas can be made
throughout the year, but that’s the meal where I wait with bated breath for
them and where they really shine. Oh sure, there’s the black-eyed peas, tomato,
and okra salad that you can get at Boma, which is wonderful, but it isn’t my
first thought when it comes to black-eyed peas. Nomad Lounge, however, is
making a convincing case that their black-eyed pea dish should be the one you
dream and wait impatiently for.

Accara are new to the menu at Nomad Lounge, but not to world
cuisine. These deep fried fritters are a street food staple throughout West
Africa, most often employed as a snack, though occasionally utilized as a
sandwich filling. Black-eyed peas form the basis of these fritters that are
fried and served hot, similar to falafel. As a street food snack, they are
often paired with kani, a spreadable sauce made from scotch-bonnet peppers.
Nomad Lounge chooses a different route and pairs their fritters with the milder
roasted garlic riata.

An order of the round fritters come five to a serving and
are definitely on the fried food spectrum somewhere between falafel and hush
puppies. There is an earthiness to the black-eyed peas, but they do well with
whatever herbs, spices, or other components make up the dish they are in. In
this case, the onion, salt, and pepper are more than enough to satisfy the
taste buds and leave you wanting more.

The roasted garlic riata is a nice accompaniment. It is cool
and creamy with a strong flavor of garlic. I’ll say this though, as good as it
was, I applied the riata to my first bite and from then on it was all fritter,
all the time. Nothing against the riata, but the Accara were just that good.
Now, you give me some kani, and we may be having a different discussion.

The menu at Nomad Lounge is constantly changing. Some of the
changes are seasonal, while others are used to highlight foods typical guests
to Walt Disney World may not otherwise see and taste, a trait which I love in
this crossroads of the world lounge. I’m hoping the Accara are available for a
long, long time. They may not of displaced my daydreaming of a New Year’s Day
meal, but they certainly are near the top of my favorite black-eyed pea dishes
list.

19 June 2018

Castaway Cay is beautiful this time of year. Come to think
of it, Castaway Cay is beautiful just about any time of year. All of that
natural beauty and pristine water may distract you from what’s really
important, the little details that are tucked away around the island. Okay,
maybe that’s a step too far, but there are some wonderful nods worked into the
island’s story. For instance, this sign for wholesalers of lobsters and other
crustaceans actually acknowledges a longtime Disney Cruise Line executive.

K. Holz is none other than Karl Holz, who retired earlier
this year. Back in 1996, Holz was a vice president at Knott’s Berry Farm when
Disney scooped him up for Walt Disney World Operations. For the next 22 years
Holz held a number of senior level positions within theme entertainment side of
Disney, including president and CEO of Euro Disney, president of New Vacation
Operations, aka Adventures by Disney and Disney Vacation Club, and two stints
as the president of Disney Cruise Line.

Holz’s first time through the floating vacation system was a
brief 18 months from 2003 until the fall of 2004 when he would move to Euro
Disney. He was called back into service of Disney Cruise Line in 2009, where he
would remain, along with other duties, until his retirement in February of this
year. During that time he oversaw the introduction of the two newest, and
currently largest, ships in the fleet, the Dream and the Fantasy.

At the
announcement of his retirement, Walt Disney Parks & Resort chairman Bob
Chapek said of Holz, “His commitment to excellence and relentless focus on
creativity have served Disney well, and his passion for doing what is best for
our cast, crew, and guests is second to none. All of us at Disney appreciate
everything Karl has done to make Disney magic on a global scale.”

Sounds like just the type of person you want leading Cast
Members, if you ask me, and certainly worthy of homage on Castaway Cay.
Especially if he can, as the sign says, deliver.

18 June 2018

If you’re new to the Gazette’s readership, or just haven’t
been paying close enough attention, then you know most of my early years with
Walt Disney World are tied very closely to Fort Wilderness. In fact, I didn’t
stay in another resort of any kind until I was almost 17, and to this day I’ve
only spent one night at a resort on the monorail loop. It was what my family
could afford and it was how we were able to spend time at Walt Disney World. My
sister and I didn’t know any better, in fact we relished the experiences we had
at the campground, and there is something to be said for that connection to the
great outdoors.

This past weekend I had to opportunity to volunteer at YMCA
Camp Watia, a camp dedicated to giving local children just that opportunity to
reconnect with nature and it started me to thinking about Fort Wilderness
again. The things I experienced as a child and, how even though we can bemoan
what has changed and what is lost, what is still there waiting to be discovered
by youth, families, and even adults who have lost that touchpoint with nature.

First and foremost there was a sense of ownership of what we
were doing. My sister and I would help put the tarp down underneath the tent,
stake the tent, and would argue over the layout of the tiny plastic lanterns
strung around our site. Make no mistake, this was 1980s glamping at its finest.
We learned how to cook and make whole meals over a small gas stove or the
charcoal grill. When we were finally old enough to venture off to the Comfort
Station on our own, in order to see what the schedule was for the nightly
outdoor movie, we could not believe the sense of freedom we had.

The sense of being on our own would only grow with time. We
learned to ride our bikes around the paved loops of Fort Wilderness, and soon
those same bikes were carrying us up and over wooden bridges and all over the
resort. We would make friends while we were there and head out to play
tetherball, splash in the Meadow Swimmin’ Pool, or head to a porch somewhere to
play checkers. For me, I also learned responsibility as I was the one charged
with making sure my little sister was safe, that we stuck to what we said we
were going to do, and that we returned back to our campsite when we said we
would. It was keeping us both happy and safe, but also having that chance to be
a leader.

Then there was, and is the connection with nature. Fort
Wilderness is where I saw my first raccoon and owl, creatures I’m still in
utter love with to this day, and there were families of deer, alligators, fish,
and birds everywhere. The stables of Tri Circle D were embedded deep in the
mind of my sister who couldn’t visit the goats, ponies, or horses enough. In
the deep of night, when the moon cast shadows of the long, gnarled oak tree
branches, we swore that they were snakes that were going to fall on our tent,
somehow get inside, and bite us. And let’s not forget, walking to and from the sing-a-long,
campfire, movie, and/or Electrical Water Pageant we would chase the magical
fireflies.

Then there were the mechanical marvels. The two-seater speed
boats that took us along the shores of River Country, the Contemporary, the
undeveloped shores around Bay Lake, and even to the gates of the Magic Kingdom.
There was never enough sunscreen that we didn’t come back a little sunburned,
but it was worth it to skim along the top of the water with spray from the lake
covering our faces! The canoes were fun, but exhausting, even if they did get us up close and personal with the waterways and banks around the campground. There were also golf carts, the way to travel in style
throughout Fort Wilderness. While frowned upon then and distinctly forbidden
now, I can remember these carts being my first driving experience as we slowly,
but probably faster than my parents were comfortable with, making our way
around Jack Rabbit Run.

As we grew up our Fort Wilderness experiences prepared us
for traveling through National Parks, but they also taught us many things that
would stick with us. The love of nature, from trees (lawnmowers optional), to
wildlife, to underbrush on the trails between each campsite was formed here.
Our desire to make sure that it stays wild and is there for future generations
was also planted at Fort Wilderness. Learning to be self-reliant and to care
for one another took root and provided the foundation to be leaders later in
our lives. The joys of imagination, creativity, responsibility, and so many
lessons tucked away in the cracks of trees and under the crunch of seashell tent
pads.

As the summer season kicks into high gear, I find myself
remembering the formative days I was granted at Fort Wilderness, and how much
they prepared me to be the man I am today. Back then I didn’t know about terms
like summer learning loss or nature deficit disorder, but they are only two of
the many challenges that children today face. Luckily, there are still places
like Fort Wilderness where the quiet stillness of nature is continuing to teach
its lessons. I just hope enough kids are getting the opportunity.

15 June 2018

Never let it be said that Walt Disney World doesn’t know and
appreciate its place in the history of attraction entertainment. Roadside
attractions and tourist destinations are as much a part of the history of
vacationing as national parks and natural wonders, and Disney understands that
the interest in all of these various locales led to the public interest in
places like Disneyland. One such location, Sunken Gardens, resides just up the
road from Walt Disney World and it has even given a place of note on the
underside of one of the ceiling beams in Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto.

Sunken Gardens is a natural wonderland in the heart of St.
Petersburg and it was established 115 years ago by George Turner Sr. The four acre
site originally contained a lake that was 10 feet below sea level. In 1903 he
drained the lake and started planting tropical plants in the rich soil, hence
the sunken part of the name. The garden was originally supposed to be his
private garden, filled with citrus plants, papayas, vining plants, tropical
flowers, and a host of other trees and plants, but he saw the potential. By
1920 Turner had begun selling fruit, plants, and some vegetables from the
garden and charging patrons a nickel to tour the gardens. It wasn’t until 1935
that he fenced in the garden to keep out freeloading garden admirers.

The botanical gardens became a must visit spot for tourists
and locals, even going so far as to be regularly ranked on the top 10 tourist
destinations in Florida throughout the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. After his
passing, Sunken Gardens were taken on by Turner’s two sons, Ralph and George
Jr. Eventually they would sell the attraction to the city of St. Petersburg in
1999.

The city has maintained the property and helped in flourish
over the past two decades. Listed as a botanical garden, with a nominal
entrance fee, Sunken Gardens features more than 50,000 tropical plants and
flowers, many of which were planted by Turner himself and are over 100 years
old! Waterfalls, demonstration gardens, and gardens dedicated bougainvillea,
butterflies, and cactus all populate the 4 acre paradise. There is even a
flamboyance of Chilean Flamingoes that call Sunken Gardens home.

Long before Walt Disney World was even a glimmer in Walt’s
eye, St. Petersburg’s Sunken Garden was already marveling tourists and locals
alike. In fact, Florida is filled with attractions that call attention to the
natural world. Some have seen better days, some have shuttered their doors, while still others
continue to thrive in the tropical location. Disney has a place within that
history and is happy to give it a nod amongst all the hundreds of artifacts
that line the walls, shelves, and rafters of Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto.

14 June 2018

In the storied battle for Adventureland ice cream supremacy,
my flag is firmly planted in the Citrus Swirl column. I appreciate that
everyone has different tastes that resonate with them, but there is something
that I prefer in the slightly bitter, yet very sweet swirl that the Dole Whip
just doesn’t have. While the Dole Whip is a longtime staple of both Disneyland
and the Magic Kingdom, the tumultuous history of the Citrus Swirl also keeps me
interested. There is, however, one thing that until recently the Dole Whip had
that the Citrus Swirl did not, a float version of the concoction.

Earlier this year the Sunshine Tree Terrace rolled out the
Citrus Swirl Float, the same ice cream treat you know and love, orange
concentrate (or orange juice slush if you prefer) and vanilla soft serve,
served in a glass of orange soda. Comparing it with the original cup Citrus
Swirl, you do appear to get more of the ice cream and orange slush combination
in the glass along with the orange soda. I’ll be the first to admit that I was
excited by the prospect of a float version of the treat, but the use of a
carbonated soda confused me a bit. However, once I tried it I was pleasantly
surprised.

Ice cream in Florida is always going to be an eat quickly or
watch it melt and slump off onto the pavement, and the Citrus Swirl Float is no
exception. Except now you have the added level of as the ice cream sinks into
the glass there is also soda leaking out over the side. So let’s just say the
stickiness factor on this one is ramped up. Depending on how much of the soda
you get with your bite of Citrus Swirl will also depend on what orange flavor
you get, the more authentic citrus flavor that comes from the swirl itself or
the artificially enhanced version of an orange from the soda. I do appreciate
the orange soda ice crystals that form a crust around the ice cream as a fun way
to play with my food.

Overall, the addition of the orange soda is something that I
could take or leave, but I am definitely glad to have the option. The Citrus
Swirl Float doesn’t necessarily level the playing field between the Swirl and
the Dole Whip, but it does provide one more option in the host of ice cream offerings
throughout the parks. I do like how it feels as if I am getting more of the
orange slush and vanilla soft serve in the float, and for that reason alone I
will likely add it into my regular Citrus Swirl rotation.

12 June 2018

We talk often about how different Walt Disney World was
during its early years, or even how each park greatly differs today from the
park that greeted guests when it opened. Sometimes we long for those early
days, sometimes it is only a matter of preserving the history of a place,
occasionally it is a bit of both. Take for instance this vista of China from
the shaded alcove near Germany in 1982.

This isn’t a view that is accessible today. For starters,
there is no sign of Norway which was still the better part of seven years away
from being opened. Yet, even China itself wasn’t the pavilion we know today. In
1982, the China pavilion featured the gardens, significant architectural representation
of noted locations in China, and the film The Wonders of China. The gallery
next to the theater would open in 1983, but we can still see that structure
here. The noticeable difference is that Lotus Blossom Cafe, Nine Dragons
Restaurant, and House of Good Fortune are all missing. In fact, these locations
wouldn’t become part of the World Showcase skyline until late in 1985.

The China pavilion, as a whole, hasn’t seen that much in the
way of change over the years, but for a time there was much less to do than
there is today. Still, regardless of the era, the gardens there are some of the
finest in World Showcase. Even just the glimpse of them here is calming.

06 June 2018

In the long storied history of Epcot, Choza de Margarita has
been there for only a blink of an eye, but it has already begun to make an
impact on the dining and imbibing habits of guests. While the menu of Mexico’s
newest eatery isn’t as extensive as the La Cava del Tequila, it doesn’t skimp
on quality and has the advantage of convenient on-the-promenade placement.
Though it has only been open for a short while, it is already finding ways to
plus its offerings by adding a new margarita, entrée, and side in May. In our
first sample of what Choza de Margarita has to offer, we gave the new
margarita, Smokey Jalapeno, and the Tostadas de Pollo a taste test.

The Smokey Jalepeno margarita is listed as Mezcal Gracias a
Dios espadin blanco, jalapeno, cucumber, fresh lime juice, and agave nectar. It
is served with a slice of smoked jalapeno for a garnish and a black ant salt
rim. You can order the margarita without the salt rim, but I opted to order the
drink as it was listed. I can see where it would it could churn someone’s
stomach to have the salt rim there, but I’m an adventurous eater and I promise
that this rim is salty, with a bit of spice, and the consistency of salt grain.
It doesn’t look like ants and it doesn’t feel like you’re eating a whole ant.

As for the rest of the Smokey Jalapeno margarita, it is
refreshing and strong. I really like the fresh flavors from the lime and the
cucumber, but the cucumber in particular gets masked a bit by the stronger
flavors of the jalapeno. Speaking of, the smoked jalapeno brings the heat along
with an almost mesquite feel on the front side of each sip. The agave does a
nice job of mellowing the spiciness with its sweetness, but not so much that
you aren’t going to feel the jalapeno. Overall this is a very well-crafted
margarita that is easy to drink, but that you will feel the effects of once you
stand up, and I will definitely be ordering it again.

A quick aside, as I’ve said it is a strong margarita, take
my advice and do not consume this beverage and then lean back to shoot a
photograph directly up the side of the Mexico pavilion. You will get wobbly at
best and fall down at worst.

Moving on to the Tostadas de Pollo, this dish comes with two
tostadas that are described as crispy corn tortillas smothered with black beans
and topped with chipotle chicken, crema Mexicana, shredded romaine lettuce, and
cotija cheese. Smothered is the operative word here, and you will be hard
pressed to find the corn tortillas by just looking at the dish. They are there
though, you’ll hear them as your cutting through the mounds of goodness, and
appreciate their crunch in a sea of softer toppings. The black beans and
chicken are the stars here with a nice bit of heat from the stewed, shredded
chicken and a smooth consistency from the beans. The crema Mexicana and cotija
cheese are rich and creamy, expertly holding the assembled components together,
with just a hint of sweetness. These were delicious and with a pair of tostadas
per order, they are perfect for sharing, but you may want to keep them all to
yourself.

As this was our first visit to Choza de Margarita I want to
take just a moment to talk about the staff. They were knowledgeable and
incredibly friendly. In fact, as we were there right at opening, they were
doing their morning huddle, complete with a hand raising cheer. They were so
excited for guests to be there that several, including my wife, were asked to
join in the festivities. The team is really world class all the way around!

Choza de Margarita is a great spot that was much needed in
the Mexico pavilion, and its availability will likely have an impact on the
crowd levels of La Cava del Tequila. Considering how high quality each menu is,
paired with the fact that the menus do not feature the same offerings, guests
will have a hard choice as to which venue to visit. Both are top notch in my
book, and it is wonderful to see Choza de Margarita really exceling right out
of the gate. I, for one, will definitely be paying them another visit for the
Smokey Jalapeno margarita and the Tostadas de Pollo.

05 June 2018

There is a line of thought present in Pandora that can be
traced all the way back to the earliest days of design for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Its roots are in the idea that once you have a theme for the park, all decisions
have to adhere to that principle. In other words, if the park is going to be
dedicated to the intrinsic value of nature then everything has to embody that
idea. There are many examples of this throughout the park, and in Pandora
itself, but I want to talk about just how far you can take that rationale and
make it stick while mingling in story and landscape. To do that we’re going to
just about the last place you would think of for landscaping, detail elements,
story, and overarching theme. I am, of course, talking about the restroom.

Specifically, I want to look at the restroom to the left of
the walkway as you enter into Pandora from Discovery Island. What could be a
nondescript plain building is layered to live in an alien environment,
generations after conflict, made by foreign entities, yet still subscribing to
the park’s overarching message. If you are going to build a bathroom that fits
into all of these categories, you have to start back at the top. That means
that the intrinsic value of nature comes above all, and that all of the manmade
objects are secondary to the natural forms of the world. In other words, the
design of the building has to either be celebrating something about nature or
be succumbing to natural elements.

In the case of the Pandora restroom, the natural world is
very clearly reclaiming this building. Moss and fungus have encapsulated most
of the building and anything non-native around the facility. Stairs, walkways,
and railings have rusted, some pieces have disintegrated while others are in
the process of coming apart. Some sections of the wall have fallen down, while
what remains is crumbling right before our eyes. Even the tanks in the nearby
shrubbery are half buried and covered with moss. Where there are gaps in the
metal and concrete, small plants have taken root and begun to spring up.

Yet, even as this structure is succumbing to the environment,
it adheres to both sides of our principle. The grey concrete slabs say nothing
about the natural world and therefore are being reclaimed, but what is growing
on the exterior of the restroom is incredibly beautiful and is a celebration of
the natural world. Splashes of purple, orange, red, and blue thrive against a
backdrop of green. Throughout all of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there may not be
a better example of paradoxically abiding by both sides of a theme’s rule than
this building.

Within the confines of the story on Pandora, the building
itself was once used as a decontamination facility for miners. In other words,
it was used by miners stripping the moon of its resources to make sure none of
the natural elements came through to their manmade compound. The irony of how diametrically
opposed to the value of nature theme this is not lost on me. However, this also
helps to establish the story of Pandora, where we are in the story’s timeline,
and how nature itself has changed the layout of the land.

Radiating out from the building is a variety of plant life. Traditional
landscaping speaks to how man can define their environment. It is filled with
angles and curves, specific numbers of plants equidistance from one another,
and is meant to show off the beauty of the natural world while containing it within
a neat and pretty box. By not allowing unbalance in the plant plan and variety,
the idea of valuing the foliage is almost lost. In contrast, the plants that
are around our restroom feel randomly placed, even those that are Imagineer
crafted artifacts. This allows for guests to sense the wild nature of Pandora,
both from a landscaping and a storytelling lens.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is, at its very heart, a park that
celebrates that natural world and all of the plants and animals that reside
here. Pandora allows guests to see the violent and beautiful sides of nature.
It is a mirror of the world that surrounds us here, and it plays right into the
park’s theme. If a story can be furthered by just the features of a restroom,
imagine what the rest of the land can tell us if we truly look, listen, and
feel.

04 June 2018

I’m a sucker for publications, real or
imagined, that appear around Walt Disney World and throughout the resorts
history. When it comes to fictitious publications, most often they emerge only
in clippings posted to bulletin boards. Case in point, this section from the Southern
Isles Gazette (we do love a good gazette around these parts). The excerpt
includes one short story featuring Hans and two advertisements that give guests
a glimpse into what the Southern Isles has to offer aside from a bratty prince
with 12 older brothers.

The main article relates the tale of how
Hans, recognized as the “disgraced son of the king of the Southern Isles,” was
cleaning horse manure as part of his punishment for his abhorrent behavior
while visiting Arendelle in an official capacity. Although it was a beautiful
spring day, he was suddenly struck by an oversized snowball and sent flailing
into a pile of manure. The story is accompanied by a drawing with the caption, “Artist
rendering of first-hand eye-witness account,” which I find particularly funny.

The story from the Southern Isles
Gazette expands briefly upon Hans’ scene from the 2015 short, Frozen Fever. In the
cartoon, Elsa unwittingly creates and sends the snowball across the map by sneezing
into the Birthday Horn while attempting to play it for Anna’s birthday even
though she has a cold. Viewers of Frozen Fever are the first-hand witnesses as
we do see the snowball strike that delivers Hans into a manure heap.

The advertisement in the bottom right is
for Southern Isles Apples. The slogan for the apples is, “Our Country’s Most Enjoyed
Export.” Perhaps this is a nod to apples having such a prominent role in Disney
animation history, we’re looking at you Snow White, but it is definitely a
slight to Hans. When produce is looked upon more highly than you are, you have
definitely got some atoning to do.

The last advert is for a supply of fine
cloaks that have just arrived in the Southern Isles, a must if you’re venturing
into Frozen territory. The Great Adventurers Hardware Store of the Southern
Isles is overseen by Den Dulk, Winter & Co.The winter reference is fairly obvious, especially in a posting for
cloaks, but Den Dulk is a wonderful nod to Michel den Dulk. Michel is the
Imagineer who oversaw the design for the attraction’s conversion from the Maelstrom
to Frozen Ever After. He came to Imagineering in 2009 to work on the redesign
of Disneyland’s Fantasy Faire after acting in a design capacity at both
Efteling in the Netherlands and Germany’s Europa-Park.

All-in-all this brief glimpse into life
in the Southern Isles via the Southern Isles Gazette definitely lets guests
know that there is more to the kingdom than what Hans projects. In fact, it
would appear that Hans is one of the more rotten pieces of the country and that
the citizens there are much more amiable than how they are represented by a
single prince. Newspapers and their ads are a great way to build worlds for an
attraction, especially one such as Frozen Ever After that has a fairly long
line on most days.

01 June 2018

For a majority of our recent trip to
Walt Disney World, we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. For those of you who
haven’t visited in a while, this resort is under a considerable amount of
construction. Both the new Disney Vacation Club resort, Riviera Resort, and the
Skyliner’s hub are being constructed on opposite ends of the resort. In
addition, Old Port Royale is also shuttered as it is refurbished and greatly
expanded. All of that is to say that there are sights, sounds, and experiences
not typically associated with the resort, but I was curious as to how it would
affect a vacation and wanted to be able to report back to you.

Let’s start with the bad. Navigating the
resort can be a bit of a stressor. Some stretches of the main road are closed
making it a bit of a maze to get around. Plus, there are sections that have
been carved out of some roads making a large dip that isn’t easy on the rump if
you don’t have great shocks. Similarly, pathways between some of the island
sections of the resort and Old Port Royale are blocked off with weirdly laid
out fences defining walkways through the old parking lot. It took us a couple
of days to get our bearings straight and feeling confident enough to make our
way around without the assistance of maps or GPS.

With Old Port Royale closed, so too are
the main dining facilities and shopping features of the resort. There is a
truck with merchandise available to peruse near the main pool, as well as a
small selection of goods at the reception building, Customs House. It’s a fair
selection, but definitely felt like a lot was missing. Prior to last month, the
main source of food at Caribbean Beach was a large tent which switched between
a buffet and a quick service location depending on the time of day. With the
recent opening of Spyglass Grill, the options have definitely increased. While
Spyglass Grill may be a bit of a walk, or a couple of stops away on the
internal shuttle, it was definitely worth the trek in our opinion, but we’ll
have a larger review on that later.

Within each island village Caribbean
Beach has converted a room into a small grab and go market filled with quick
bites, sandwiches, chips, sweets, and the like. They aren’t anything fancy, but
they will definitely do the job in a pinch. Also, for those guests with
refillable mugs, there are several Coke Freestyle machined scattered about the
resort so that guests never have to wander too far to find a cold beverage.

Notice that we’ve yet to talk about the
construction itself and the distractions it caused. That’s because there weren’t
as many as you would think. Yes, roads and walkways were impacted, but that is
the most inconvenience that it caused. When you were walking around Barefoot
Bay, particularly if you crossed the bridges and island of Caribbean Cay, all
of your sightlines included some form of construction, whether it was the
Riviera, Skyliner hub, or the Skyliner posts, but that seems like a rather
minor problem in the scheme of things.

The real worry I had was construction
noise and I found very little of it unless I was directly on top of the
construction sites. Disney is doing a wonderful job of keeping the noise
contained to daylight hours when most guests are at the parks, and even then it
is not as bad as you would think. We were in the Jamaica section, which I
believe is the best section to be in during this period of construction, and
even when I was taking naps in the middle of the afternoon (of which there were
several), I heard nothing in our room. I didn’t feel the ground shaking from
equipment, I didn’t hear crashing or hammering coming for the various sites,
inside my room it felt as if nothing were going on. We frequented the pool a
couple of times, and while the construction was visible just over the wall, it
was almost always drowned out by the lively music and the sounds of children
and families splashing in the pool and having a grand old time.

The current state of Caribbean Beach isn’t
perfect, and I don’t think anyone would claim that it is. The resort is going
through a massive refurbishment that will not only redefine the resort, but the
larger landscape of Walt Disney World as well. That said, I was pleasantly
surprised by how little our stay was affected by the construction. Caribbean
Beach was never my first choice when it comes to moderate resorts, but I was
wrong to deride it for so many years. Even amidst all of the turmoil it is
experiencing right now, I was able to discover a newfound respect for it and
would definitely stay there again. Don’t let the construction scare you away
from this resort, it definitely still has charm that is worthy to be explored!